Drummond Gluten Free

The Details

Brewery: Drummond Brewing Company

Origin: Red Deer, AB

Rated On: April 2, 2014

Best Before: N/A

ABV: 5.0%

Ideal Temperature: between cold and cellar temperature

Style: Amber Ale

Rating: OKAY

The Review

The Drummond Brewery of Red Deer, Alberta, specializes in all-malt, canned lagers, and this is their entry into the Gluten-Free beer market. ‘Sorgrum’ [sic] is the star here, apparently in a solo role, according to the small print on the label.

This 355ml can pours a clear, medium golden amber colour, with two fingers of broadly bubbly, somewhat foamy off-white head, which leaves a bit of specked lace around the glass as quickly fizzes out of sight.

It smells very much like grainy white grape juice, some free-range berry sugar, and earthy, weedy, and leafy hops – rather plain, for the most part. The taste is thinly grainy, more vegetal in nature than anything, with flat store-brand root beer, browned apples, a touch of sodden Wonderbread, and pithy wet musty hops. The bubbles are present to a minor degree, but not worthy of a story arc, the body medium-light in weight, and adequately smooth, I suppose, the local troublemakers keeping their wayward edges to themselves. It finishes off-dry, the moving target fruitiness still mostly the only game in town.

As far as these sorts of pseudo beers go (no offense, to anybody with the celiac affliction), this isn’t all that bad – inoffensive, mostly, and that’s a bit of a riot, given how hard it usually is to love the result of malting sorghum. This brew clears a rather low bar, easily, but don’t go in expecting anything more than an average amber ale.